Anonymous
7/9/2025, 4:56:32 PM No.24534167
what are the well thought out detective novels you've read?
Replies:
Thread 24534167 - /lit/ [Archived: 462 hours ago]
Anonymous
7/9/2025, 5:01:08 PM No.24534176
>>24534167 (OP)
I’m not a fan of the genre (I think it’s lame) but Death and the compass by Borges is okay.
I’m not a fan of the genre (I think it’s lame) but Death and the compass by Borges is okay.
Anonymous
7/9/2025, 9:12:42 PM No.24534865
>>24534167 (OP)
Lew Archer, he has the same style as Philip Marlowe but his plots make sense.
Maigret is pretty good too.
Both are introspective detectives who attempt to understand the criminal and why they act the way they do. They go about this through interviews and conversations with everyone involved in the case.
Lew Archer, he has the same style as Philip Marlowe but his plots make sense.
Maigret is pretty good too.
Both are introspective detectives who attempt to understand the criminal and why they act the way they do. They go about this through interviews and conversations with everyone involved in the case.
Anonymous
7/9/2025, 11:08:51 PM No.24535267
>>24534167 (OP)
Are there any detective novels with furry anthros? No, “Who Censored Roger Rabbit” doesn’t count.
Are there any detective novels with furry anthros? No, “Who Censored Roger Rabbit” doesn’t count.
Anonymouṡ
7/9/2025, 11:43:51 PM No.24535381
>>24534167 (OP)
No-one has heard of Peter Cheyney now but he was the top-selling English author for a period during the 1930s/40s, I believe. He wrote hard-boiled detective or spy thrillers.
He had several recurring characters. This is the series featuring a London P. I. called Callaghan:—
The Urgent Hangman (1938)
Dangerous Curves (1939)
You Can't Keep the Change (1940)
It Couldn't Matter Less (1941)
Sorry You've Been Troubled (1942)
They Never Say When (1944)
Uneasy Terms (1946)
(Plus one or two collections of short stories.)
You Can't Keep The Change and They Never Say When probably have the trickiest plots, as I recall, but it's really best to go in order. If you don't like The Urgent Hangman you won't like any of them.
No-one has heard of Peter Cheyney now but he was the top-selling English author for a period during the 1930s/40s, I believe. He wrote hard-boiled detective or spy thrillers.
He had several recurring characters. This is the series featuring a London P. I. called Callaghan:—
The Urgent Hangman (1938)
Dangerous Curves (1939)
You Can't Keep the Change (1940)
It Couldn't Matter Less (1941)
Sorry You've Been Troubled (1942)
They Never Say When (1944)
Uneasy Terms (1946)
(Plus one or two collections of short stories.)
You Can't Keep The Change and They Never Say When probably have the trickiest plots, as I recall, but it's really best to go in order. If you don't like The Urgent Hangman you won't like any of them.
Anonymous
7/9/2025, 11:46:12 PM No.24535389
Reflex by Dick Francis
Replies:
Anonymous
7/10/2025, 12:11:42 AM No.24535477
>>24534167 (OP)
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy.
I don't usually read crime fiction, but I'd read Ellroy again. I loved the film adaptation of LA Confidential too.
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy.
I don't usually read crime fiction, but I'd read Ellroy again. I loved the film adaptation of LA Confidential too.
Anonymous
7/10/2025, 12:13:23 AM No.24535482
>>24535389
It might be well thought-out, but the style (or lack thereof) is appalling.
It might be well thought-out, but the style (or lack thereof) is appalling.
Anonymouṡ
7/10/2025, 1:10:21 AM No.24535666
>>24535389
Dick Francis novels are good (well, the first dozen are good) but I'm not sure they can be called "classics". That said they're certainly far better than most of the rubbish that gets called serious literature these days.
Reflex is solid enough but I wouldn't put it in the top rank. For me, those would be For Kicks, Bonecrack, Odds Against.
FUN FACT: DF was one of the few authors that Philip Larkin read during the last ten or fifteen years of his life.
Dick Francis novels are good (well, the first dozen are good) but I'm not sure they can be called "classics". That said they're certainly far better than most of the rubbish that gets called serious literature these days.
Reflex is solid enough but I wouldn't put it in the top rank. For me, those would be For Kicks, Bonecrack, Odds Against.
FUN FACT: DF was one of the few authors that Philip Larkin read during the last ten or fifteen years of his life.